 
 
 |
YEAR |
EVENT (Events Specific to Baltimore are highlighted in Yellow) |
| 1785 | First documented arrival of Chinese on the east coast. A document in the National Archives indicates that three Chinese sailors were stranded in Baltimore when the captain of their ship, the Pallas, abandoned them. |
| 1848 | Gold discovered at Sutter’s Mill, California. American ships recruited Chinese to help American prospectors mine the newly discovered ore in the Gold Rush. |
| 1854 | In People v. Hall, 4 Cal. 399 (1854) the California Supreme Court held that persons of Chinese ancestry could not testify in court against a person of Caucasian descent. The court, speaking through Chief Justice Hugh C. Murray, declared that "[t]he same rule which would admit them to testify, would admit them to all the equal rights of citizenship, and we might soon see them at the polls, in the jury box, upon the bench, and in our legislative halls." Id. at 404. |
| 1859 | The California Gold rush ends. |
| 1865 | Central Pacific Railroad Co. recruits Chinese workers for the first transcontinental railroad. |
| 1867 | 2,000 Chinese railroad workers strike for one week. |
| 1869 | First transcontinental railroad completed. |
| 1870's | According to Asian migration records, the first Chinese may have arrived in Baltimore in the early 1870's. |
| 1871 | Anti-Chinese Riots in San Francisco and Los Angeles. |
| 1878 | In re Ah Yup, 1 F. Cas. 223 (1878) held that a native of China is not entitled to become a citizen of the United States. Judge Sawyer stated that "[i]t is clear, from these proceedings that congress retained the word 'white' in the naturalization laws for the sole purpose of excluding the Chinese from the right of naturalization." Id. at 224. |
| 1880 | The Exclusion Act prohibits Chinese laborers from entering the United States. |
| 1882 | Legislation Act-- total exclusion of new entries and persecution of those already in the country. |
| 1885 | The only documented evidence that exists on the first Chinese who settled in Baltimore is an October 25, 1932 interview of Gee Ott. Mr. Ott told a reporter from the Baltimore Post that he owned the Empire Restaurant on 200 West Fayette Street during the 1880's. The chronology of events derived from that interview revealed Mr. Ott arrived in Baltimore around 1885. |
| 1886 | In Yick Wo v. Hopkins, 118 U.S. 353 (1886) the Supreme Court recognized that a laundry permit ordinance was administered in a deliberate way to exclude all Chinese from the laundry business. |
| 1888 | The Scott Act mandated that Chinese Laborers leaving the country could not return. This prevented the reentry of at least 20,000 Chinese. In fact, a ship full of sojourners arriving in San Francisco was forced to return to Hong Kong. |
| 1892 | The first Chinese-American born in Baltimore was Lillie Lee Wong. |
| 1892 | The Geary Act prohibited Chinese entry to the United States and also denied Chinese the right to bail, and habeas corpus procedure; Chinese must possess residence certificate without which they could be deported. |
| 1902 | Dr. Sun Yet Sun, the father of the Republic of China, lived on Marion Street, Baltimore Chinatown, for several months. He used Baltimore as his headquarters and organized Chinese in this country to support him and overthrow the Celestial Empire. Sun Yet Sun campaigned for financial support from Chinese in America. Then, he went to Europe to solicit support to help his revolution. In 1911, Sun Yet Sun established the Republic of China and was elected the first President. |
| 1921 | Lillian Kim and her family arrived in Baltimore. |
| 1922 | The first news article written about Chinese Sunday School and evening school appeared on November 5, 1922 in the Baltimore Post, entitled "Americans Converting Chinese to Christianity." It explained that while Joss houses still existed in Chinatown, people were slowly succumbing to American ways by converting to Christianity. According to the news article, over thirty members in the Chinese Sunday School studied under the guidance of Miss. Francis Marshall of the YMCA. |
| 1924 | The Marshall sisters brought their Chinese School to Grace and St. Peter’s Church. |
| 1924 | Chinese Exclusion Act--only sons and daughters of United States native-born were allowed entry to the United States. |
| 1927 | In Gong Lum v. Rice, 275 U.S. 78 (1927), Chief Justice Taft held that "[a] child of Chinese blood, born in, and a citizen of, the United States, is not denied the equal protection of the laws by being classed by the State among the colored races who are assigned to public school separate from those provided for the whites, when equal facilities for education are afforded to both classes." Id. at 79. |
| 1932 | The first Cantonese Language School was established in Chinatown. Approximately forty youths were enrolled in this program at 314 Mulberry Street. |
| 1943 | The Congress of the United States repealed the Exclusion Act of 1882 and granted an annual entry quota of 105 Chinese to the United States. |
* Click Here for University of Toronto at Scarborough's timeline on "Chinese Canadian History"